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PS 3545 
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1907 

'Copy J 




Class _^'-,5^,5_ 

Copyright N"__^\2i_arL_ 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 



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BY 
E. H. WELLS, M.D. 



New York and Washington 

THE NEALE PUBLISHING COMPANY 

1907 



LIBRARY of CONGRESS 
Two Copies RKdivea 

DEC 23 i 907 

Copyrifiii tntry 
OLAWA XXc4 






Copyright, 1907, by 
E. H. WELLS, M.D. 



First published in December ^ ^907 



DEDICATED TO 

My Beloved Wife, 

Nee Ann Elizabeth Lawrence. 

Married, 1862. 



Our life-streams, (welFd not far apart, 

Strange confluence had in land remote: 
In sixty God brought heart to heart; 

In sixty-tivo our compact ^rote, 
A honey-moon and half of years 

Have sped since you and I ijoere ived: 
Still hand in hand, mid joys, in tears, 

We t^o life's tangled mazes tread. 
Women tivo my life have fashioned; 

The mother dear ^'ho gave me birth. 
And thou, of all most impassioned. 

Peer of best in life and njoorth. 

" Gentle Annie," thou vohen first vue met — 

These years thy ^and has swayed my life; 
And thou art '^gentle Annie" yet, 

Beautiful, all- controlling wife. 
Thy gentle touch makes lives forlorn 

To brighten for eternity. 
God keep the children thou hast borne. 

In *' strait way" trod by Christ and thee! 
Down the hill we glide together; — 

Oh, so softly, we almost seem 
To hear a voice from the ether^ — 

" Come o'er and rest this side the stream,** 

The waters of the last chill river 

Seem to lap our halting feet; 
God grant we may cross together, 

Together Christ, the Saviour, meet. 



Beneath the Star of Bethlehem 

REFLECTIONS OF 

A SOJOURNER AT BETHLEHEM 

A. D., 1907 

PROPHECY 

^^f^^^O His temple shall suddenly come 
m C\ The Lord whom ye seek/*^ spake Jah 
^L J By latest of His school of seers : — 
^^^^ ^^ The messenger of my covenant, whom 
Ye delight in: behold he shall come." 

NIGHT 

Unconscious of the near event, 

The nation sleeps: — for night has pent 

Judaea in gloom, and o'er the vale 

Of Jordan the chilly mists sail, 

Drifting adown the Sea of Death: 

In heaven, strange stir and hurried breath; 

Keen zest ; — and sounds of quickening pulse 

Echo through all its vast expanse, 

And angels to other angels spread 

The hints of grander scenes ahead. 

1 Mai. iii. i. 



BENEATH THE STAR OF BETHLEHEM 



DAY-BREAK 

List! Shrill and clear the cock's clarion 
Breaks the dread stillness, and anon 
Winds among Ramah's wooded dells. 
As the bugle at reveille tells 
Bivouacking men a new^- day's born, 
And calls them to greet its glad morn, 
So toiling men, and beasts who were 
In village close, or pastures sere. 
Now 'gan to stir — at first drowsily, slow- 
But later more lively seemed to grow. 



DAWN 

A few faint dawn tints flush the East 
And ruddy fingers touch the peaks 
In far of? regions Idumean. 
Then as one scans the shifting scene, 
The more sublime of Ariel's^ mounts 
Seem to thrust up their tops, as founts, 
To catch the first bright glints of day. 
No longer now can one essay 
Each fresh touch of color t'outline. 
So rapidly does the limner divine 
Ply his brush dipt in glories, brewed 
So multiform and many-hued, 
No human artist for love or gain 
2 Is. xxix. I. 



BENEATH THE STAR OF BETHLEHEM 

Through months of labor can attain. 
One by one the rays chase each other 
Over hill-top, plain, and heather, 
Peer into all but deepest place 
And darkest gorge that mars the face 
Of that sacred land. 

One by one 
The haunts and homes of man emerge: 
The birds feel the glad thrill, and voice 
Their joy at approaching release 
From the terrors of night and of cold: 
(Mixt with their carols, come from the folds 
Bleatings of sheep, braying of asses. 
And deep lowing of milk-laden kine.) 
Higher peaks their glances soon reflect 
Into devious regions more obscure: 
Then adown the slopes the waxing brightness 
Creeps, — stripping off the robes of Night, 
Revealing the form and features 
Of the land; ruggedness, nakedness. 
Bare fields, leafless vines and trees: — 
For ^twas the week of Winter Solstice. 

SUNRISE. THE CAMP 

And now i' the dusk a camp's astir, ^ 

Hard by the hot-springs of Emmaus, 
In the land of Jacob's youngest son. 
Many men are there; and women some, 
Called from divers homes at pleasure 



BENEATH THE STAR OF BETHLEHEM 

Special of Rome's imperial Caesar, 
Under seal of Cyreneus. — 
Compelling each one of the race 
Of Heber to be enrolled in 
The city of his nearest kin. 

These have completed the bivouac 
For night, and soon their camp will break: 
The beasts are fed, and they have spread 
A hasty meal of flesh and bread. 

But see! v^hile we but turned apace 
To note the camp, the ruddy face 
Of earth's regnant sun peers upon 
The distant Sou-East horizon. 
Next, he pours with unstinted hand 
O'er all the salient points of land 
A stream of purest molten gold ; 
And as it flows in rills of untold 
Radiant beauty, the gleaming flames 
Run down and down till all the plains 
Are swept, and every dusky site 
Is captured by th' invading light. 

MATINS 

E^en as th' exultant day sweeps away 
Every vestige of the lingering night, 
A joyous shout peals thro the camp ; 
Faces Southward turned are made bright 
By sheen reflected from gilt tips 
Of temple's pinnacles and crests. 

10 



BENEATH THE STAR OF BETHLEHEM 

" Ho! Out of Zion, the perfection 
Of beauty, God our Lord hath shined."^ 
As the full-risen sun now blazes 
With light, with bared head and faces 
Toward the Holy City turned, they raise 
Glad anthems in regal tongue of David. 

" The earth is the Lord's, in fulness all 
The world, and they that dwell therein/' 
Jacent vales are with melody replete. 
And hills the swelling chorus oft repeat, 
" Lift up your heads, O all ye gates, and ye 
Everlasting doors, high uplifted be. 
And the King of glory shall come in. 
Who is this King of glory ? He of hosts 
The Lord : He is King of Glory. Telos."* 

As their glad acclaims to heaven arise, 
And from hill to hill the echo flies. 
No suspicion had those Jews devout 
That He, of whom they sing and shout. 
In covert form would enter soon 
The Damascene gate, and 'fore high noon 
Pass near Herod's emblazoned temple, 
And exit make through Zion portal. 

THE CARAVAN MOVES 

The hasty morning repast taken, 
That caravan (save one) have shaken 
Ofl fatigue, and afresh pursue 

3 Ps. 1. I. ^ Ps. xxiv. lo. 

11 



BENEATH THE STAR OF BETHLEHEM 

Their onward course. Last comes to view 

Moving with steady steps and soft, 

A gentle ass, bearing aloft 

A woman : — beauteous of face and form, 

Serious and silent; tired; journey-worn. 

But patient ; — and by her side a man. 

Stalwart son of Judah, walking 

To th' ancestral home to be enrolled. 

This man Joseph; — the woman Mary, 
His espoused wife, great with child ; 
O'er shadowed near first of Jewish year 
By the power of the Highest. Of her. 
Seven centuries agone, Esaias said, 
" Behold a virgin shall conceive 
And bear a son : Immanuel, 
Prince of Peace, call ye his name."^ 

'^ Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! 
Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem ! 

Behold, thy King cometh unto thee! 
He is just, and having salvation."^ 



JOSEPH AND MARY 

Of that day's tedium naught is writ; 
Nor is it meet that we should know 
How, mayhap, they at noon-tide hour 
Rested, hard by deep Siloam's pool. 
Or within the temple's cincture — 

^ Is. vil. 14. 6 Zee. ix. 10. 

12 



BENEATH THE STAR OF BETHLEHEM 

House erstwhile built and dedicate 
To Jah, our supreme potentate. 

God, now in human form incorporate, 
Men would as little contemplate, 
When, years later, from unborn state 
To youth and manhood grown he sat 
And taught within this temple's portals. 

SUNSET 

But the short day, — as time e'er flows, — 
Verged like others towards its close. 
The sun has run his round in haste, 
And sunk behind the rocky waste, 
That hides from view the dread Great Sea. 
Some left the troup in town or lea ; 
Others, with new ones gained, sped thro: 
And now the solitary two, 
With spirits ever fresh, since fed 
On the sure promises of God, 
But with increase of weariness 
And pain of lim.b, their way pursue 
Through the gathering gloom of twilight. 
At last when the denser shades of night 
Have shrouded all, these two unseen. 
Enter the city Bethlehem. 



13 



BENEATH THE STAR OF BETHLEHEM 



BETHLEHEM 

" Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be 
Little 'mong the thousands of Judah, 
Yet there shall come forth, out of thee, 
Through me, Israel's future ruler: "^ 
Whose goings forth are from of old. 
Aye, ere the birth of Time was told : 
And now, henceforth, shall He be on 
His throne, through eons times eon. 

'* Fruitful house of bread " thou wast named ; 
But this night, to thine own most famed, 
Barren, cold. No inn, nor cheery home 
Opens to these two way-worn and lone, 
A welcome door. Queen of all most proud, 
Lady elect of Almighty God, 
Can find no helping fellow-woman 
To sympathize ; though in her womb 
She bears about God's Son, by his grace 
" Wonderful Counsellor, the Prince of Peace." 
No room for tired Mary and her groom 
In the haunts of men : Aye more, no room 
For Him who framed the earth and wreathed 
It with beauty and into men breathed 
The vital spark, to differentiate 
The living soul from the inert state. 
No room with man, in mind like God, 
Strange blending of divine with clod, 
"^ Micah V. 2. 

14 



BENEATH THE STAR OF BETHLEHEM 

Scarce of Heaven's sweetest joys debarred, 
Till Satan's hellish hate had marred. 

THE GROTTO 

As last resort the royal pair 
Betake them to natural lair 
Of beasts of toil: At entrance grim 
Of grotto, used to shelter them, 
The maiden mother, chill, forlorn. 
And almost ill, is gently borne 
By strong arms of her faithful spouse 
To rude bed of straw in dank house 
Dimly lighted: — trifle remote 
From the beasts, fellow guests though brutes, 

They sleep: — 

No witness tells how long 
These two retained their humble home. 
Nor when the looked-for issue came, 
Epochal in the realm of Time. 

THE DEAD OF NIGHT 

Draw now the veil, ye angels fair, 
Sent on rounds of deeds specific. 
Soothe the pangs and speed the ending 

Of travail at birth deific! 

The sun had hurried behind his screen 

That he might not look upon this scene: 

15 



BENEATH THE STAR OF BETHLEHEM 

As once again he shall hide his face, 
When this same God in anguish cries 
From Death^s deepest hell of agony, 
^^Eloi! Lama Sabacthani! '^ 
O sin of man! How measureless 
The agonies and woes, that press 
In ceaseless train thy loathsome trail ; 
Whelming potent Christ and sinner frail! 

The night wore on, and one by one 
All sounds, suggesting life, had grown 
Faint and yet fainter in their sweep. 
Till all was still — and potent sleep 
Held sway in all that little realm. 
Under ground: — Quiet e'en the beasts. 

GENESIS 

In the beginning, ere earth roamed. 
Chaos was, and silence profound: 
For time was, before Spirit moved 
Upon the face of night, and light glowed. 
So now does this presage the utterance 
Of that same potent word which strives 
To tell dying men of the entrance 
Of a new Light and fuller lives. 
And He who came first to create .:: 

Comes now once more to re-create. 

How dare we try to tell ? — How strive 
To comprehend the coming of that Life 

16 



BENEATH THE STAR OF BETHLEHEM 

When to th' immaculate maiden, 

Affrighted at his salutation, 

Gabriel said, '' Hail highly favored, 

The Lord is with thee, ever blessed 

Thou, among and above all women " ? ^ 

Annunciation coeval 

With the indwelling of principle 

Omnific, that vitalizes 

The molecule, and sets in 

Motion those mysterious forces. 

That, interacting, make and bind cell 

To other cell, in order perfect 

And unerring, till symmetric 

Whole at end appears complete: 

Elaborated and evolved.^ 

THE BIRTH 

A gasp for breath — a cry — a wail — 
A child is born, with living soul ! — 
The body, human — the spirit, God! 
Gestation concluded, period 
Accomplished, the exalted Mary 
Became a mother. Her progeny 
In swaddling-clothes she wrapped, 
And laid the precious son of Man^^ 
In manger, hewn of stone, mayhap 
Not unlike that other, larger planned. 
Which after one brief life-course 

8 Luke i. 28. 9Ps. cxxxix. 14-16. 10 Luke ii. 6. 
17 



BENEATH THE STAR OF BETHLEHEM 

Should encase his spiritless corse, 
That, sepulcher; — this, a cradle. 

LIGHT OF THE WORLD 

Lo! a miracle! the grottoes 
Ceiling with mild effulgence glows, 
From humble manger corruscate ! 

He, who, at the first be-spake 
His universe to pass from realm 
Of Chaos, with Night overwhelmed. 
To cheery scope of His bright face. 
As God-man comes again apace, 
And reposes now as helpless babe! 
Jesus, Savior, (for thus He's named) 
Light of the world from first became : 
In conception and resurrection 
God ! — In birth and death very man. 

THE MADONNA 

Mater Beate! Ne'er did woman feel. 
As thou dost now, of mother-love the thrill: 
Thine own fair face reflecting matchless glow, 
Aureole of which is flung about thee now, 
Like robe of gossamer, made to shine 
With radiance from thy babe divine! 
But how can human pen attempt 
To write of things coincident? 
Lo! As here on earth transacted, 

18 



BENEATH THE STAR OF BETHLEHEM 

Scene followed scene duly enacted, 
In Heaven, interest was acute. 
The supernal eyeing the terrene. 
From the presence of great " I am," 
Through spaces marked by finite man 
As myriads of light-years,^^ came 
An angel of glory: — the same 
Who stood by at incarnation, 
Now presides at culmination. 

HIS STAR 

Speeding through the ether in flight 
Past all comprehension, this night 
He blazes in the star be-strewn 
Firmament, as one before unknown; 
Unique in splendor, transcendent 
For magnitude, of strange portent! 
Such visitor, or stellar guest. 
At once so novel and dazzling, 
Arrests and holds, in fixedness 
Of notice, the scrutinizing 
Gaze both of many sapient men. 
And of the toiling ones who ken. 
Divers observers, of diverse 
Occupations, came from divers 
Places by this rare vision lit. 
Shepherds, watching their flocks by night, 
Entranced, stood gazing into heaven; 

11 The distance light traverses in one year. 
19 



BENEATH THE STAR OF BETHLEHEM 

When God's glory, around them strewn, 

Shone so that they were sore afraid, 

Till voice benign from ether said, 

" Behold, good tidings of great joy 

1 bring, which shall all people thrill: 

For unto you this day one bore 

In David's city a Saviour! 

Go seek the Christ, your mighty prince. 

In humble form of helpless babe 

By mother draped in cheapest chintz, 

And now to sleep with cattle laid/'^^ 

THE CHOIR 

While listening to the message brought, 
Heaven's choir in glad acclaim broke out. 
All jacent fields and air above, around, 
With entrancing melody resound. 
Nature, through members all elate. 
Felt the thrills of joy permeate: 
Earth's rocks echoed the harmonies: 
Parched deserts gleamed with glad surprise.^^ 
Rivers and sea exultant leaped, 
And ethereal waves, up heaped. 
Beat 'gainst the vibrant walls celest. 
" Glory to God in the highest. 
And on earth peace; — good-will to men," 
Ran the swelling chorus and refrain. 

^2 Luke ii. ii. ^^ Is. xxxv. i. 



20 



BENEATH THE STAR OF BETHLEHEM 



EARS THAT DO NOT HEAR 

Why then did Bethlehem not hear, 
And Jerusalem, too, so near? 
Why were all men for miles around, 
Through all this, wrapped in sleep profound? 
Ears can discern only those sounds 
To which those ears are here attuned ; 
Hearts feel the throbs of kindred hearts ; 
Souls with responsive souls commune. 
And thus, we think, God's presence is. 
To the pure, heaven ; — to wicked, hell. — 
The future state of mortals is 
Complete adjustment to their will. 

THE SHEPHERDS 

These shepherds,^^ then, of God elect 
From all the hosts of Judah's sect. 
Heeded first the glad announcement, 
By heavenly ambassador sent. 
And hasted the summons to obey. 
Speeding to cave, where the child lay 
In cradle crude, in slumber sweet. 
In silent wonder and devout, 
They scanned the face, which fairly blazed 
With the Father's glory: Then dazed 
With strangest awe, and reverence, 

14 Luke ii. 8. 



BENEATH THE STAR OF BETHLEHEM 

They, first of earth's inhabitants, 
Obeisance made ; were first to adore ; 
And by their deeds, covertly swore 
Allegiance to God^s only son, — 
To found a Kingdom, earth-ward come. 

CENTRUM 

Or rather, it were better told, 
This Christ was now, in feeble mould, 
From mid-universe projected: — 
Where Centrum is situated ; 
The adamantine throne of Jah, 
Whence pulse all forms of energy. 
Divine, physical, spiritual; — 
Into this less sphere, his footstool: 
To single combat here to dare 
" The prince of the power of the air," 
Satan: — ^who, by grossest display 
Of powers, now had unbridled sway 
O'er consciences and acts of men, 
Into heirs service conscribing them. 

SON OF DAVID 

How meet it was — of heaven ordered, 
That here; — ^where the first great David 
Was born; where his flocks, as shepherd. 
He led to graze ; from dangers saved ; 
Foes slew ; and as he watched by night. 



BENEATH THE STAR OF BETHLEHEM 

From firmament aglow with light, 
Caught inspiration that distilled 
From many a psalm which he filled 
With praises of God, His plan, design, 
And all His attributes, both benign 
And terrible: — How meet, forsooth. 
That here, that scion fair, and greatest 
Of his regal house-tree, should be set! 
Of whom Jehovah's prophet said, 
** Behold, I shall the Branch bring forth, 
My servant, but coequal in worth, 
To execute judgment in the earth ! " ^^ 

THIRST FOR KNOWLEDGE 

From fatal day in Eden's bower, 
When man first ate, and felt the power 
Of insatiable wish to know 
Secrets of God, above, below. 
Till now. — ^Whate'er is strange or new, 
Unable to dem.onstrate or do. 
He either racks his brain to find, 
Or if perplexing quite to mind, — 
All theories faulty; — sighs, " Lo! 
This is thus, since God made it so! ** 

Again, the captive spirit beats 
Ever with restless wing the bars 
Material that hedge it round. 
When fain 'twould soar among the stars. 

1^ Zech. iii. 8. Jer. xxiii. 5. 
2S 



BENEATH THE STAR OF BETHLEHEM 

First-men, then, with pleased eyes began 
The stellar beauties of sky to scan. 
As they gazed, fancy freely sketched 
Outlines of constellations, stretched 
O^er all the canvas of the sky. 
Heroes of earth for places vie. 
On heaven's emblazoned field of blue. 
And animals, wild, tame, old and new. 

ASTROLOGY 

By little, their phases noted were. 
And strange connections traced 
'Twixt them, moving on stellar sphere. 
And human deeds enacted here. 
The more the wise men studied. 
The more conviction grew 
That God had writ, in star-set signs, 
The stories of the lives of men : — 
That at one's natal day, some star. 
Pre-eminent, rose to rule his life: 
In some strange way, his guardian angel, 
Vigil kept from special light-house, 
And beamed from its unwearied round, 
With glance that boded ill or good : — 
Now declining, in ascendant now, 
Man's fortunes waned, or larger grew. 



U 



BENEATH THE STAR OF BETHLEHEM 



THE MAGI 

So elsewhere, in regions disjoined, 
And one from another remote, 
God's mystic signs of stars conjoined 
In order, caught the eye, and thought 
Transfixed of sages, who had skill 
To read the legends of His will. 
So wholly unique, in splendor 
And position, blazed a stranger 
Before unnoted, name ungiven. 
That by some common impulse driven 
Magi from sundered nations came. 
To seek the spot o'er which the same 
Should rest, and serenely look down. 
On Him who framed it for his own. 

Somewhere, methinks, near Sea called Dead 
Or in turbulent Jordan's plain. 
These wise men convocation had. 
Thence to Jerusalem they came. 
In seat of State expecting to find, 
As apt they should, Juda's new-born King. 

SEARCHING THE SCRIPTURES 

Such events soon caused a mighty stir. 
Bruited about, rumor ran that heir 
To David's throne, Restorer-King, 
Last and noblest of his long line, 
Now in marvelous way and sphere 

25 



BENEATH THE STAR OF BETHLEHEM 

Past finding, had at last appeared. 
He of whom Moses and major 
Prophets did write, and psalmists sing; 
Redeemer, Messiah, Saviour, 
Comforter, Seer, High Priest and King. 

Then scribes to the Scriptures ordered, 
Announced : " We find it thus recorded : 
' And thou, Bethlehem, of Juda's land, 
'Mong Juda's princes, art not least grand; 
For out of thee shall Governor hail, 
That shall rule my people Israel." ^^ 
Forthwith obedient to the seer, 
And glad at consummation near 
Of all that arduous search; concerned. 
Their faces toward Ephrata turned. 

ADORATION 

When these who diligently sought 
The Lord, came to star-pointed spot 
Where Mary and her babe reposed. 
Forthwith, with one accord they paused. 

And homage paid that helpless child. 

Which strangely stirred their hearts, till wild! 

As one his jewel-case unfolds. 

These lavish worship of their souls! 

They spread in rich profusion there, 

At his feet, incense, gold, and myrrh. 

Strange scenes these which strong men enact; 

16 Micah V. 2. 



BENEATH THE STAR OF BETHLEHEM 

But stranger yet the mother's state 

Of mystery, all about her packed 

So dense she could not penetrate. 

Yet mother-like much pleased she was, 

And full note took of all that passed ; 

Carrying each sacred secret 

In her bosom, as trusts to be kept.^"^ 



JESUS SAVIOUR 

Such in brief is story of advent 
Of our Lord and Saviour; — Jesus, 
By the mother named — by whom sent, 
Known as Christ, who relieves us. 
In the annals of the human race 
Three thrilling events epochal face 
Us, and all concern the footsteps trod 
By this wonder-working man and God. 
First, from beginning Creator 
He; then Son of Man, Redeemer 
Of the bankrupt slaves of evil ; 
In battles endless, fierce, with Devil 
Contending for the souls of men : 
Thus, through cycles of this eon; 
And last, when Time no more shall stream. 
Triumphant He shall rule Supreme, 
No jar of discord nor taint of treason. 
But Peace, Truth, and Godlike Reason. 

^■^ Luke ii. 19. 
27 



BENEATH THE STAR OF BETHLEHEM 



JESUS CREATOR 

" In the beginning was the Word; 
The Word was with God, aye was God. 
By Him all things that are, were made; 
And without Him nothing is stayed ; — 
For in Him was Life, and from Him 
Emanates Life, and all that gives vim.'^ ^^ 



SATAN 

First, since Satan, by strange permit, 
Had entered Paradise and had smit 
The image of God, in person man, 
Christ has come, the second Adam 
Regenerate, and with power rife 
To give each man new lease on life. 
Now the fight is strangely human, 
Which ranged aforetime in heaven; 
Till God^s legions, triumphant. 
Hurled Satan from its battlements. 
Hence two Knights in combat single 
For mastery of each soul mingle. 
Each mind a battle-field displays ; 
All fields are manifold the days ! 
Pause ! and try the carnage to conceive 
That sin has caused since time of Eve! 

IS John i. 1-4. 
28 



BENEATH THE STAR OF BETHLEHEM 



JESUS AGONISTES 

" Think not/' said Christ, " that I, the Word, 
Will send peace on earth, but a sword " /^ 
The fight I wage (no quarters ever) 
Shall daughter from mother sever, 
Father array against dearest son, 
And 'twixt kindred peoples schism run ; 
Till all stiff knees to me shall bend, 
And tongues confess me Lord at end. 
Till Satan, that dread old dragon. 
Be bound and Into unfathomed 
Pit be cast, and under seal be kept 
Till his millenlal respite ; 
And on till hell and sin at last 
In lake of endless fire be cast 
And Death and the chilly grave 
Swallowed be in victory's wave. 

STRUGGLING MAN 

So John In Apocalypse forecasts 
The struggle, unceasing while time lasts ; 
Distinctly sees the domination 
Of love o'er Hate and all his faction. 
Long chiliads of years had passed 
Before the second Adam came. 
Through all this drear and tedious time, 

19 Matt. X. 30. 
29 



BENEATH THE STAR OF BETHLEHEM 

Man's visions of God were vague and dim. 
Man having no law, conscience-taught 
Life's burdens bore and battles fought.^^ 
Lex talionis swayed beast and man 
Alike; eye for eye, hand for hand. 
Perverted view of natural law 
And moral forces, Satan saw. 
Could man's progress retard or stay. 
Or turn his feet to error's way. 
For resultant of balanced forces 
Is rest; of moral opposites, is 
Stagnation. Christ came not to destroy 
But fulfill ; Not to bring pain but joy. 
For hither, to Bethlehem apace. 
Came last of Israel's royal race 
To teach in a purer, sweeter verse 
The harmonies of his universe. 
Love attracts, Hate repels. At heart 
Of all synthetic effort, that ; 
Of analytic, this: that ion, 
Edification — this, destruction. 

REVERIE 

The night advances — ^frosty needles prick 
The face upturned to faultless sky, thick 
Set with many a scintillating star. 
Each a sun and gem in coronet of Jah. 
Shadowy forms of ruined piles and village — 

20 Rom. i. 20 and ii. 14. 
30 



BENEATH THE STAR OF BETHLEHEM 

Homes, as comfortless as though fresh from pillage 

Of Ishmaelite, rise up like gory ghosts 

To chill the blood: — and ghouls collect in hosts. 

These are the phantoms of many races, 

Which fought for mastery of all these places : 

For tramping millions, from every nation. 

That by its prowess, reached highest station, 

Have battled here, on every foot of ground 

Of this strange land, by Abram sought and found. 

From Egyptian down to Turk, all conspired 

To complete this desolation so weird, 

That now oppresses every pained sense. 

Makes brain to reel, and every heart-string tense. 

When Shiloh came, Judah's scepter, broken 
Fell; Now, since thirteen centuries, the token 
Of the Christ, the cross, has yielded place 
To crescent. Came this blight with Moslem race? 

To me these people seem to be opprest 
With life, since by its burdens so distrest. 
True, many claim from Abram their descent; 
All hail prophet by God of Abram sent. 
No joyous children did I see to-day; — 
Sad-eyed and bleared — aye, leprous men decay, 
While their spiritless frames creep here and there ; 
Mute types of desolation and despair! 
What means it all ? Where the seven candlesticks, 
Of near-by Asia Minor, which Paul fixt? 
Where, oh, where the Christ, who fought the devil 

here? 
Why does the vanquished now victor appear? 

31 



BENEATH THE STAR OF BETHLEHEM 



RELIGIOUS WARS 

The mind pursues the tide of Christendom 
Westward flowing from Asiatic home, 
With horror views the wars in Europe waged, 
Like a chopped sea that seethed and frothed and 

raged. 
Saddest of all, where vortex is blackest, 
I see the mangled body of the Christ. 
Hear the angry cross-waves (the contending sects) 
Crying each, mid din, and with wrangling vext, 
" Lo! Here is Christ! ''—then with buffet—" Lo! 

there!" 
Hosts rise in frenzy, to sink in despair! 
When from abysses of blood some emerge, 
And more tranquil seem at first to converge, 
Protestant seeks to convert Catholic, 
Whether Roman, Greek, or later Anglic; 
And these, in turn, restrain or interdict 
The Dissenter, and penance would inflict ; 
While all with one accord, but uncombined, 
Assail the citadels of human mind. 
Iconoclasts all, they have sought to break 
Both the idols and ideals which men make. 
In government and religion, turmoil 
Endless has prevailed, and with pain and toil. 
Tentative measures are taken, in state 
And church, man to curb or improve his state. 

S2 



BENEATH THE STAR OF BETHLEHEM 

All assail Confucianism, Shintoism, 
Buddhism, each evoking antagonism. 

Conditions change; Experiments persist — 
And will, while man and his problem exist. 

WHAT IS TRUTH? 

But, where, oh, where is Christ? Fights He no 
more? 
Alas! His own mother knew him not; nor 
Did the twelve, daily with Him seen on earth, 
Hearing Him teach, e'er comprehend His worth. 
Somehow, somewhere, from midst of human unrest. 
He moves, as when with uplift hands He blest. 

THE RECALL 

Come back, my soul, from wanderings far and 

sad! — 
Dismiss those sprites, in somber vestments clad. 
That fain would haunt you with drear dreams this 

night ; 
And fix your gaze on heavens aglow with light. 
Mark pure Hesperus regnant in the West! 
Dedicate by Greek to her, who has blest 
The earth with that love, at root of all lives : 
Fittest way to them to apotheosize 
That wondrous universal magnetism. 
Which constructs and conserves each organism. 
Venus is type of biologic force : 

33 



BENEATH THE STAR OF BETHLEHEM 

But Christ alone mforms the spirit's course. 
Bridegroom is He, and Holy church the bride ; 
Offspring, '' the pure in heart " — These shall abide. 
Essence of His teachings the leaven is, 
That leavens humanity vi^ith righteousness. 
In gross forms of humanly organized 
Churches and Societies, Truth is prized. 
Be there little or much, it ever works. 
Subduing self and sin and errant Kirks. 

THE UPLIFTED CHRIST 

So the uplifted Christ, great central magnet, 
Is drawing all men unto Him: Not dragnet. 
Forcibly collecting, but discerning 
The best: the pure gold from dross refining. 

Again, it is the living Christ conserves 
The social forces: T' exalt him that serves. 
He came, abides to teach us how to live. 
Not to die. To him that hath, will He give.^^ 
By making a life successful. He saves: 
He gives th' immortal soul the food it craves. 
The unfed spirit of inanition dies. 
When its empty casket in sheol lies: 
But that nourished by truth no confines knows ; 
More god-like through eternity grows. 

21 Matt. xiii. 12 and xxv. 29. Mark iv. 25. Luke 
viii. 18. John xv. 2. 



34 



BENEATH THE STAR OF BETHLEHEM 



COMPLIN 

Ah! Close the casement now. 
The night grows still more chill. 
To God the Father bow, 

And beg to know His will 
More perfectly. Then well sleep 
Well. He will his vigil keep. 
Bury, Father, for the Past, its dead sorrow, 
And resurrect for us a glad to-morrow. 
Gilded sentries of the sky, 

Glisten ! 
Wondrous scenes you seem to be 

Revealing. 
Restless questioners, as we lie. 

Listen ! 
Ravishing notes are floating by, 

A-pealing, 
Like those heard by the shepherd 

Watching, 
Lull they all our senses quite. 

And please us. 
Faith and courage most superb 

Catching, 
All to Thee, we yield, this night, 
O Jesus! 

{Sleeps,) 



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